A twelve-year-old boy from San Diego, California had to undergo surgery for a brain hemorrhage after he received a shocking blow to the head during a youth sports game.
Garrison Green was pitching on the mound on April 1 when a curveball he threw came back at him with aggressive speed and slammed into his skull.
“I didn’t expect a ball hit in the head to be so strong, it just shocked me and it was very scary,” said team-mate Ezekiel Gachalian.
Upon returning home, Green showed signs of head trauma – including vomiting and drowsiness – and was rushed to hospital where doctors discovered bleeding.
Rushed to surgery, doctors shaved his head and stopped the bleeding in its tracks. In solidarity, the boy’s teammates shaved their heads so he wouldn’t be alone.
Garrison Green, 12, had to undergo surgery for a brain haemorrhage after he suffered a shocking blow to the head during a youth sports match in April
Doctors discovered bleeding in Green’s brain. Pictured: Green’s CT scan which shows the bleeding
Green will be off the mound for a while as he continues to recover from being stabbed for the serious injury.
In his April 1 game, Green threw a fast pitch he will never forget.
Garrison Green’s father, Ryan Green, described the situation as ‘a parent’s worst nightmare’
“I threw a curveball and made him look silly, I tried to speed him up, but he actually sped me up and hit me in the head,” Garrison said while speaking with KSWB.
Although these are youth sports, Green’s father said the children were very good and took the games very seriously.
“These kids are throwing 65-70 mph,” Ryan Green said.
“When the ball hit Garrison in the head, even I kind of jumped up and would say I’m normally one of the ‘that’s a little dirt on it’ guys,” Ryan said.
After the hit, the boy’s father went through concussion protocol and Green answered “all questions without fail”.
He sat out the rest of the game to be safe and his team went on to win.
As the night wore on, however, things got worse for the tween.
Coming home from the Huntington Beach tournament, Ryan’s mother, Brooke Green, sat in the back with him and tried to keep him awake.
Brooke told Fox 5 that her son started to fall asleep, then vomit and they tried to rush him to emergency care before finally calling 911 for help.
“You can’t overreact as a parent, trust instincts,” Brooke said.
“I threw a curveball and made him stupid, I tried to speed him up but he actually sped me up and hit me in the head,” Garrison (pictured) said in speaking with KSWB
“You can’t overreact as a parent, trust instincts,” said Brooke Green, Garrison’s mother (pictured right).
“I didn’t expect a ball hit to the head to be so loud, it just shocked me and it was very scary,” said team-mate Ezekiel Gachalian (pictured).
“If you could imagine spending two hours early encouraging your child on the baseball field to pray for him to wake up, I mean that’s a parent’s worst nightmare,” Green said.
After getting into the ambulance with her son, Brooke said doctors at Orange County Children’s Hospital found a brain hemorrhage and called a surgeon.
The neurosurgeon who responded, Dr Suresh Magge, said he was actually leaving the field at his son’s Little League game when he received the call.
“It really touched me closely,” said the co-director of the CHOC Neuroscience Institute.
He added that his family made the right decision by watching for common warning signs – vomiting, headaches and drowsiness – because “time is everything”.
“We made a cut on his head behind the hairline and then we were able to remove a piece of skull and remove the entire blood clot,” Dr Magge said.
“Once we removed the blood clot, his brain was able to re-expand, removing pressure from critical structures in his brain,” the surgeon continued.
Dr Magge added he was happy with how Green was recovering, giving credit to Brooke who didn’t wait to get home before calling 911.
The neurosurgeon who answered, Dr Suresh Magge (pictured), said he was actually leaving the pitch of his son’s little league game when he got the call
Garrison Green in a photo taken after his surgery
Immediately after the surgery, Green was back to normal and happy, his family and friends said, asking when his team’s next game was and if he could play.
“The second they took him out, literally asking him what time our game is tomorrow, does Coach Anthony need me to pitch?” said Ryan.
Unable to return to the game and facing major life changes – including a new haircut from his surgeons – Garrison turned to his teammates for support.
The group of young boys stood up and shaved their heads in solidarity.
“We just thought it would be a good opportunity to show, to prove to each other that we are brothers, we will go through everything together,” Gachalian said.
“It’s all up to you,” a teammate said in recorded video.
“Doing this for you G,” said another teammate.
Green’s family filmed his reaction and he said he couldn’t stop crying.
“I see they’re all buzzing in the head, I’m an emotional guy, so I’m breaking down, it really showed me how… they’re not technically my brothers, in my mind they’re 100 % my brothers,’ said Green.
Garrison Green’s teammates stepped up and shaved their heads in solidarity
Green is still out and recovering, but that hasn’t stopped him from embracing a version of the sport he loves.
The 12-year-old joined a whiffle-ball league and his teammates joined him.
‘If you want to take three steps forward you will take five steps back, and I didn’t want that to happen so I knew there was a process and this is just one year of many years that I will live, that I can’t play baseball,” Garrison said.
Of his teammates, he said he will never forget how they helped him.
“What they did for me is so special, it really shows me that relationships are very important and the friendships you make out of them are very important,” he said.
“Baseball is an amazing sport, I think it’s the best sport in the world, but your friendships can last forever,” the boy continued.
